Process of and apparatus for dehydrating emulsions by externally-charged particles



Nov. 24, 1925.` l1,562,712

. w. MEREDITH PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DEHYDRATIMIEHULSIONS BY EXTERNALLY CHARGED PARTIGLES Flled Feb, 14. 1921 Patentecl-Nov. 2.4,. 1925.

UNITED STATESy PATENT OFFICE. ci

WYNN MEREDITH, OF ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR T0 PETROLEUM RECTIFY- ING COMPANY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

:PRooEss or AND APPARATUS RoR DEHYDRATING RMULsioNs BY EXTERNALLY- CHARGED rAR'rrcLns.

Application led February 14, 19215 Serial No. 444,947.

To all whom t may concern.'

Bc it known that I, VVYNN Mniuinrrii, a citizen of the United States, residing at Alaiiieda7 county of Alameda, State of Cali' fornia, have invented a new and useful Improvement Comprising the Process of and Apparat-us for Dehydrating Emulsions by EXtei'nally-Charged Particles, of which the following is a. specification.

My invention is particularly applicable to the art of deliydrating petroleum emulsions although it is generally -applicable to the separation of conducting particlesl of any kind from a more or less perfect insulating media.

It. is a. well known fact that emulsions, which consist of conducting particles, for example, water drops, carried in an insulating media such as petroleum oil, may be dehydrated by introducing the emulsion into an electric field. The drops of Water are give-ii electric charges which cause them to attract each other and coalesce and 'which also cause them to move` towards or away from the electrodes which produce theinitial charge. This coalcscence and movement tends to produce larger drops which seem to act as nuclei for 'further and more rapid coalescence so that the action seems to accelerate very .rapidly once the formation of larger charged particles starts. 'here the water drops are small it is often difiicult to start the action, and it is an object of my invention to overcome this ditliculty by introducing 'large charged particles into the emulsion y. being treated, these particles' being given their charge before being introduced into the emulsion.

' I further .introduce particles having bothv a positive and a negative charge and in some cases I allow these oppositely lcharged partieles to fall indiscriminately through an alternating field. f

In thefollowiiig' specification I will describe my invention as used in the art of dehydrating petroleum emulsions.

Petroleum emulsions are of common occurrence in the production,l transportation and utilization-of petroleum oilsv and are often very troublesome due to the fact that the water particles contained therein are so small that they will notv readily settle out of the oil by gravitational action.

Itfis an object of my invention to provide means for causing these small particles of water to coalesce into larger drops which will readily settle by gravitational methods.

made evident hereinafter.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of one forni of apparatus adapted to carry on my process."

Fig. 2 is a section on a plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end view of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1. p

' In the form of the apparatus illustrated,

11 is a container having an inlet pipe 12.

and an outlet pipe 13. Secured in the walls of the container are insulators 14 each having alconductor extending through the center theieof,.each of which carry an electrode f. i

15 at their inner end. Supported by brackets 20 and insulators 21 from the top of the container 11 are a series of troughs 22, 23 and 24, these troughs having a multiplicity of holes along their length. The trough 24 is supplied with water through a pipe 25 controlled by a valve 26 and this water is evenly distributed bythe trough 24 into the troughs 23V and by these troughs into the troughs22 falling ina series of drops therefrom. The electrodes 15 'are connected by means of wires 30 with the secondary 31 of a step up transformer 32, the primary 33 thereof being connectedito any convenient source lof alternating current. The troughs 22 are connected by means of a wire with the secondary 41g of the step up transformer 42,`

the primary 43 of which is fed from any convenient source of alternating current. The

other side of the secondary 41 is connected through a wireI 44 with the container 11 or .with the ground.v -Water is allowed to ow slowly through the pipe 25 into the pipe 24, -being distributed into the troughs 23 which `in turn distributes it into the troughs 22 Further objects and advantages will be nected to the secondary 41 of the transformer 42 are constantly being charged with a very high potential which alternates in direction. Thedrops which leave this trough 22 are, therefore, charged with electric charges of varying intensity and variable polarity, one series of drops having a positive charge and the other drops immediately following them having a negative charge. These charged water particles fall intothe body of the emulsion aud being considerably larger than the drops therein tend to fall therethrough, passing through the electric field set up between the electrodes 15. The minute drops in this lield are also charged due to the field. This field is an alternating one and the charged particles are subjected to alternating forces therein. Each of the charged particles forms a sort of nucleus to- Which the small particles of water originally in the emulsion are attracted and with which these smaller particles are coalesced or amalgamated thus forming .still larger particles which continue to travel downwardly, and which therefore will readily settleout from the emulsion in the bottom of the container 11. The apparatus may be operated by allowing emulsion to flow inwardly through ghe pipe 12 and outwardly through the pipe I claim as my invention:

1. A method of separating conducting particles from an insulating media Which comprises imparting an electric charge to other particles; introducing said charged particles into said media; and subjecting said media and said charged particles to an electric stress.

Q. A method of separating water particles from an emulsion of oil and water which comprises introducing into said emulsion electrically charged bodies and subjecting the emulsion to an electric stress for the purpose ot' causing a coalesencc ot water particles about said charged particles.

il. A method of dehydratiug an emulsion which comprises dropping electrically charged particles into an electric field formed in said eu'uilsion.

4. A method of dehydrating an emulsion which comprises dropping electrically charged water particles into an electric icld ytoi-meal in said emulsion.

5. A. method of dchydrating a petroleum emulsion ulrich comprises imparting an electric charge t6 a body of water; finely dividing said water to form charged particles; and dropping said particles into said 4emulsion which is simultaneously subjected particles from an insulating media which' comprises passing electrically charged conducting particles through said media which is simultaneously subjected to an electric stress.

9. A method of separating conducting particles from an insulating media which comprises passing electrically charged conducting particles o different polarity through said media, which is simultaneously subjected to an electric stress.

10. A method of separating conducting particles from an insulating media which comprises passing electrically charged conducting particies through said media which is simultaneously subjected to an electric stress of alternating polarity.

11. A method of separating conductingl particles from an insulating media which comprises passing electrically charged couducting particles of different polarity.- through said media, which is simultaneously subjected to an electric stress of alternating polarity. j

12. A11 apparatus for dehydratingl au emulsion con'iprising a container for said emulsion; means for causing a rain ot' water particles to fall into said container; means `for imparting an elect-ric charge to said water particles before they enter said emulsion; and means for producing an electric field .in said emulsion.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at San Francisco, California, this 7 th day of February 1921.

WYNN MEREDITI-I. 

